Freestyle video by Sonja, Vanessa and Laura.

Edited by TEUNG.

Blue Shade is a collaborative production by Gabby Santos and Laura Huynh, sharing a vision of two seemingly different worlds colliding, upon realising that they are in fact the same entity this entire time.

Often we perceive others as a completely different entity from us. However we are actually the same people in one another. You are able to see yourself in another person and another person is able to see themselves in you.

Understanding this allows us to silence (but continue living with) the nature of comparison and bring forth compassion.

This is a waving showcase done after a 6 week waving course, learning from Kris Gusti and Jason Nguyen- incredible and amazing poppers and wavers, at Crossover Dance Studios in Sydney.

Lana Lubany released this song, and had for the first time- incorporated Arabic in her music. Listening to it for the very first time and hearing her first verse in Arabic was such a beautiful experience, and the way she sings brings out the absolute beauty in it. I think it is so amazing to incorporate one's own culture in their work- because not only does it show originality, it shows love and acceptance of oneself and the culture that they come from- it shows THEM.

Hearing her song, about experiencing badness for the first time in the world, made me want to portray the same badness, I wanted to BE the badness! Being a snake, like Medusa, and waking up from her long slumber to influence innocent minds. Following this storyline came about my performance.

I also wanted to add an extra flair to it with the costuming! Done by my friend Tanya and I- we did the sleeves ourselves (well, Tanya did most of the cutting)! I felt awesome in it!

Cái Chảo, Cái Dĩa: One pan, One plate aims to bring a sense of awareness and appreciation towards asian culture. There are small subtleties in life which help define us and our culture, in this case, Laura aims to explore one specific aspect of her Vietnamese culture- that is, drying her dishes with the natural daylight of the sun. This small subtlety of her culture is often something overlooked, as she feels that this simple act of drying dishes in the sun shows the grit and integrity of her culture. Fully appreciating the act of washing your dishes after a grateful meal, and utilising nature’s surroundings to aid with the process of drying dishes is something to be appreciated within Vietnamese culture. Utilising this idea, the performance is curated around the process of washing, drying, and appreciating our culture’s dishes, and fully immersing ourselves to be present within that experience.

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Home Bodies sees a variety of dance makers creating under conditions of extreme isolation, short bursts of dance to enliven their neighbourhoods.

This project commissioned 25 artists from across NSW and Victoria to perform short dance works made to uplift people in communities of lockdown. Artists hail from a range of dance disciplines, age, gender and identities performing works on balconies, in yards, parks, playgrounds and on street corners for unexpectant audiences, enlivening places with live performance as an antidote to isolation.

This curated project happens once only from the 4th to the 15th of October 2021, with performances also live-streamed on DMC’s instagram, to cheer on these brave site-specific explorations from afar.

This project is supported by PYT Fairfield who have worked with DMC to co-commission those artists with connections to South-Western and Western Sydney.

Returning to nature, returning to self, in my vessel.